[mattchew]

I agree that "dark side" is over the top. (I never thought Microsoft was so terrible either.)

Maybe some of the resentment here is from the lingering feeling that Google should still be the best thing on the internet. For quite a long time, everything they did, they did so amazingly well. I loved that company.

They got worse, the rest of the internet got better, and they really don't stand out the way they did. But sometimes I forget that the new Google isn't the same as the old Google, and I feel stung about things like this.

(FWIW, I don't blame them for doing something about Reader. I just wish they had tried selling it on subscription before fitting it for concrete shoes.)

[takluyver]

I've seen a handful of people say that they would have been willing to pay for Reader. But overall, I imagine that the complaining would have been just as loud had they started charging users for something that was previously free. And what if it was still unprofitable? They'd need to go through all the complaints a second time if they decided to close it down anyway.